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No. 631,694. Patented Aug. 22, 1899'. w. N. snow".

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I (Application filed June 1d, 1595. 2 sheetvsheet L (N0 Model.)

Patented-M922, I899. W. N. BROWN.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM N. BROWN, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS.

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SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 631,694, dated August 22, 1899.

Application filed June 10, 1898. Serial No. 683,073. (No model.) i

My invention relates to certain improvements in files for holding accounts, letters, bills, 850., and which may be used for keeping a petty ledger.

My invention consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure I is a top or plan view of a file illus-- trating my invention. Figs. II and III are detail vertical sections taken on the line II III, Fig. I, Fig. II showing the file closed and Fig. III showing the. reversible plate or top piece raised but not turned back. Fig. IV is a detail front view of the upper end of the standards, showing the hinge of the combined sliding, swinging, retaining, and reversible right-angle cover-plate. Fig. V is a detail perspective view showing one corner of the retaining and reversible plate and one end of the hinge.

support the retaining and reversible plate. Fig. VIII is a detail back view sho'winga modification. Fig. IX is a detail front view of the parts shown in Fig. VIII, the base being represented in section on line IX IX, Fig. X. Figs. X and XI are sectional views taken on the line X XI, Fig. VIII, Fig. X showing the retaining and reversible plate closed and Fig. XI showing it open. Fig. XII is a detail perspective View of the form of retaining and reversible plate shown in Fig. X. Fig. XIII is a perspective view showing one of the standards in the form represented in Fig. VIII. Fig. XIV is a detail view of one of the division-sheets.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a suitable base, which may be of any desired shape or form. To the back of this base are secured standards 2, when as shown in Figs. I to VII, inclusive, consisting of a single piece of bent metal slotted at the back, as shown at 3, Fig. VI, the slots extending down the Figs. VI and VII are respectivelyback and front views of the standards that front a short distance, as shown at 4, Fig. .VII. The standards are secured to the base 1 by means of screws 5 or otherwise. A space 6 is left between the front and back of each standard, as shown in Figs. VI and VII.

7 represents a combined sliding, swinging, retaining, and reversible right-angle plate supported by the standards 2 through'means of a wire 8, around which the inner edge of the plate is coiled, as shown in Fig. V. This wire has hook-like ends 9 and at its central part is provided with a bend 10 (see Fig. IV) to keep it from turning as the plate is manipulated. As the plate 7 is raised from the position shown in Fig. II to the position shown in Fig. III the backs of the hooked ends 9 move in the slots 3 of the standards, and as the plate is turned back after being raised the extremities of the hooked ends enter the extensions 4 of the slots, thus permitting the pla eto be turned back after it is raised, while at the same time holding the plate from moving bodily in a downward direction while it is being reversed. The plate is shown in its reversed position in dotted lines, Fig. III.

Secured to the base 1 is a tube 11 and secured to the plate 7 is a needle or rod 12, so arranged with relation to each other that when the plate is turned to its forward position (shown in Fig. III) the rod will be over the tube, so that the two will telescope as the plate is lowered to the position shown in Fig. II.

On the tube 11, with their backs bearing against the standards 2, are a number of division-sheets 13, the perforations in the sheets being sufficiently large to enable the sheets to move freely on the tube. One edge of these sheets is provided with the letters of the alphabet, each sheet having a lip or extension 14, and upon each lip are preferably placed two of the letters of the alphabet.

In the use of the file a person places his fingers beneath the sheet where he desires to open the file and by raising up this sheet and all that is above it lifts the sheetsQwith their contents, thus raising the plate 7 from the position shown in Fig. II to the position shown in Fig. III, the sheets above his hand being transferred from the tube 11 to the rod 12, and when the plate has reached its position shown in Fig. III it, with the sheets thus raised, are turned back into the position shown by dotted lines, Fig. III, and thus the person has exposed before him the file with the desired place exposed, so that if he is making entries in keeping a petty ledger he can mark on the exposed top sheet that is not turned over the desired matter, or if he is filing a paper he places it over the tube 11 and after this is done the plate 7 and the sheets that have been turned back are brought again to their closed position by simply turning the plate from the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. III, to the position shown in full lines, when, owing to the hooked ends 9 working in the ends 4 of the slots 3, the rod will be brought directly over the tube 11, so that when the plate descends the rod will enter the tube. By thus providing ahinge connection between the plate and the standards which will automatically cause the rod to be brought over the tube in closing the file, no care is required or time lost in getting the rod to enter the tube while closing the file.

I do not wish to be limited to any particular form of construction of hinge between the plate and the standards for accomplishing this purpose, as the same may be varied, and in Figs. VIII to XIII, inclusive, I have shown the standards without slots and having shoulders 15 at their upper ends to receive non-circular ends 16 on the back of the plate 17, such plate corresponding to the plate 7 shown in Figs. I to IV, inclusive. In the form of standards shown in Figs. VIII to XIII, inclusive, the upper ends of the standards are formed with loops 18, to receive the ends 16 on the plate as the plate is turned back. This is represented in Fig. XI.

Instead of using a single tube and rod, as shown in Figs. II and III, more than one of each may be used, as illustrated in Fig. IX, where two of each are shown, and instead of having the tubes connected to the base and the rods to the plate they may be reversed, the tubes being secured to the plate and the rods to the base, as shown in Figs. X and XI, and when I refer in the claims to the tube being secured to the base and the rod to the plate I mean that the claims shall be understood as including said alternative forms of constructioni. 6., with the rod secured to the base and the tube to the plate.

A file thus made is inexpensive, easy to handle, and is well adapted for the work that it is intended to do.

By having the top or plate 7 so hinged or connected to the base as to necessitate the elevation of it bodily before it is turned back provision is made for the transfer from the base to the top or plate of all matter above the point where it is desired to open the file, and the matter thus transferred from the base to the plate each time the file is opened is not disarranged by the manipulation.

I claim as my invention- 1. A file comprising a base, a combined sliding, swinging, retaining, and reversible rightangle plate, standard on which the inner part of the right-angle plate is adapted to slide and to which it is hinged, and a tubeand-rod connection between the base and the outer part of the right-angle plate; substantially as described.

2. A file comprising a base, a combined sliding, swinging, retaining, and reversible right-angle plate, having projections on its inner part, standards between which the inner part of the right-angle plate is adapted to slide, having spaces in which the projections are adapted to slide, and extensions to which the inner part of the right-angle plate is hinged, by the projections, and a tube-androd connection between the base and the outer part of the right-angle plate; substantially as described.

3. A file comprising a base, a combined sliding, swinging, retaining, and reversible right-angle plate having a hinge-rod formed with hook-like proj ections,standards between which the inner part of the right-angle plate is adapted to slide, formed with spaces in which the ends of the hinge-rod are adapted to slid c, with slots in which the hook-like projections are adapted to slide, and with extensions to the slots into which the hook-likeproj ections are adapted to enter, and a tube-androd connection between the base and the outer part of the right-angle plate; substantially as described.

WILLIAM N. BROWN. In presence of GERHARD G. ARENns, .Ir., JOHN L. DUKER. 

